Bellingham troop withdrawal resolution at the White House

City's troop withdrawal resolution turned away at White House
Bornemann, other reps told to put measure in the mail

LES BLUMENTHAL

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WASHINGTON — A copy of a resolution adopted by the Bellingham City Council calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq was hand delivered to the White House on Tuesday.

But a White House security guard refused to accept it and told Bellingham City Councilman Terry Bornemann and representatives from about two dozen other towns and cities that had passed similar resolutions to drop them in the mail.

"It's against protocol," the unidentified member of the U.S. Secret Service's uniformed police said as he stood behind the tall, iron fence at the White House's North Gate. "We just don't take packages. We've got security issues. Sorry, I can't do more."

Bornemann said he wasn't surprised or disappointed. ...(more)

The occupiers of the White House have their excuses for turning away hand delivered messages from We The People. But that doesn't change the fact that they're continuing to act against the will of seven out of ten Americans.

42nd LD Democrats at the Old Settlers Picnic

Again this year the 42nd Legislative District Democrats had a booth at the annual Whatcom County Old Settlers Picnic in Ferndale.

The Old Settlers Picnic is actually more like a fair than a picnic and runs for four days. Hundreds of people stopped at our booth to ask questions or just to say Hi and chat about politics.

Impeachment, ending the occupation of Iraq, fixing health care and local growth/sprawl were the most popular topics of discussion.

What Republican's Won't Tell You About Iraq

Last night, Bill Moyers did a segment titled AL QAEDA AND IRAQ. It's the kind of journalism that leaves so many others in the dust. Moyers interviews Brian Fishman, instructor at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, and Fawaz Gerges, professor of Middle Eastern and Internal Affairs, to give us some reality about the occupation of Iraq and its effect on Muslims around the world.

While Bush and his Republican guard continue to spin the tale of "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them here", actual experts on the subject say the occupation has created a cause that helps Islamist extremists recruit new members from around the world and a place to train them. Watch the video.

At the end of his Journal, Bill Moyers did a essay on sacrifice. He contrasted the service and death by IED of 18 yr old Private First Class LeRon Wilson, a young immigrant from Trinidad with the lip service of College Republicans as it is exposed by journalist Max Blumenthal. Watch Max' video:

- Warning! Scenes of extreme hypocrisy. Viewer Discretion Advised. -
Young Republican Chickenhawks
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Here are a couple of news items from Friday that show what an utter mess Republicans have made of Iraq:

Strained relations between Maliki and Petraeus.
A key aide to to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that “relations with U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus are so poor the Iraqi leader may ask Washington to withdraw the well-regarded U.S. military leader from duty here. The Iraqi foreign minister calls the relationship ‘difficult.’” July 27, 2007 10:15 pm |

Iraqi government ‘in the midst of the worst crisis.’
“Iraq is in the throes of its worst political crisis since the fall of Saddam Hussein with the new democratic system, based on national consensus among its ethnic and sectarian groups, appearing dangerously close to collapsing, say several politicians and analysts.” July 27, 2007 3:00 pm |

"Conservative" = Liar

It seems that whether it's Republican Appointee's or FoxNews Commentators, Conservatives are simple incapable of telling the truth. Or as we say out here in the West, "they're just a bunch of damned liars!"

First, a dandy rundown on what's gone wrong at the DOJ

And then, some push back against all the damned lies FoxNews has been telling about the netroots and progressive bloggers.

If it steams you the way it steams me to be lies about like that, you may want to Volunteer to call or identify FOX News advertisers

Not - commanders on the ground

So Bush is absolutely committed to an Iraq occupation strategy (the Surge) that was "hammered out"... "during a weekend session". Geez! Over and over again, Bush has said; "troop levels will be decided by our commanders on the ground, not by political figures in Washington, D.C." But here's proof that all along that's been a big fat frickin' lie.

Arm chair generals help shape surge in Iraq
Jul 25, 2007 8:30 AM (3 hrs ago)
by Rowan Scarborough, The Examiner

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - When it comes to the troop surge in Iraq, a bunch of arm chair generals in Washington are influencing the Bush Administration as much as the Joint Chiefs or theater commanders.

A group of military experts at the American Enterprise Institute, concerned that the U.S. was on the verge of a calamitous failure in Iraq, almost single handedly convinced the White House to change its strategy.

They banded together at AEI headquarters in downtown Washington early last December and hammered out the surge plan during a weekend session. It called for two major initiatives to defeat the insurgency: reinforcing the troops and restoring security to Iraqi neighborhoods. Then came trips to the White House by AEI military historian Frederick Kagan, retired Army Gen. John Keane and other surge proponents. ...(more)

Along with that exposure of Bush Administration dishonesty and half-baked-ness comes this news (by way of Think Progress):

Army orders surge in recruiters.

The Army Times reports that “the Army has ordered 1,106 soldiers, former recruiters, away from their current assignments and back to recruiting duty starting on Friday.” The Army issued the order because it is “having significant difficulties getting new recruits because of the unpopularity of the Iraq War.” 1:07 pm |

But gosh and gee golly, could anyone be surprise that it would be tough to find people willing to join the military when 68% of Americans disapprove of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq.

Of course Bush will not be diverted from his stubbornly destructive course. Nor will being caught in a lie (again), change Bush's Orwellian ways. And Orwellian isn't an exaggeration as Rick Perlstein has noted:

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we're really talking about peace."

President Bush , June 18, 1984 2002

New Edwards Ad Asks The Big Question

John Edwards has a new campaign ad. It asks the question; "What Really Matters?"

John Edwards - Hair

Republicans picked up the story about Edwards expensive haircut and tried to make it mean something. That's not surprising, Republicans are always looking for ways to trivialize the American democratic process. Never forget that Republicans don't like democracy.

The bigger question every American should ask is; why did the haircut story ever get printed. What did it have to do with anything? Was this somehow different from how the other candidates operate or was it just a way to pigeon hole a candidate? Is MSM campaign coverage really about the campaigns and the issues or is it about who the reporters like and dislike?

The Truth About Republicans

The truth... Republicans got nothin'. The truth... Bush Administration has lied about, misrepresented, obscured or kept secret its activities. The truth... When the American people get the facts, they find Bush/Republican politics and policies unacceptable

When pressing a tough sale, Bush is a lousy salesman
By Steven Thomma | McClatchy Newspapers

President Bush now has what he asked for — time to sell the people and the Congress on the Iraq war. But an extra 60 days from Congress, the addition of the talented Ed Gillespie to run the White House communications strategy, and a newly ramped-up sales pitch cannot change the underlying fact: George Bush is a poor salesman. » read more

Bush can't sell anybody on his twisted policies and mentally he's a spoiled child who doesn't know how to compromise. So with Democrats holding a slim majority in the both Houses, what's the Republican response? Obstruction, obstruction, obstruction.

Senate tied in knots by filibusters
By Margaret Talev | McClatchy Newspapers

• Posted on Fri, July 20, 2007

WASHINGTON — This year Senate Republicans are threatening filibusters to block more legislation than ever before, a pattern that's rooted in — and could increase — the pettiness and dysfunction in Congress. ...

And the "Conservative" reaction, to blocking the will of the American people, is joy. Fred Barnes at the Weakly Standard wrote an ode to anti-democratic obstruction. He thinks embarrassing Democrats is job #1 for Senate Republicans... good government and the will of the majority count for nothing in "Conservative" eyes, getting and holding power is the only thing they care about.

The Truth... those "Conservative" Republicans don't like democracy.

Richardson Says "Bring All the Troops Home"

Presidential candidate, Gov. Bill Richardson has a new TV ad calling for complete withdrawal of Troops from Iraq.

New "Stand Up" TV Ad
Gov. Bill Richardson calls for a new plan for Iraq
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I’m Bill Richardson, and here in New Mexico we’ve lost too many soldiers in Iraq — just like Iowa and every other state. We have to end this war now.

The one thing the Iraqis agree on is they want us to leave. Our troops have done everything we’ve asked, and I don’t want to see any more die.

I approved this message because Congress has to stand up to this president. We need to get all of our troops out of Iraq. George Bush won’t do that, but I will.

NeoCon Scapegoating Backfires

Some pencil necked sleaze ball that Bush installed at the Pentagon (Eric Edelman) has tried to play the blame game on Senator Clinton.

You may ask; Who the hell is Eric Edelman? Well, here's a little background:
Bush Bypasses Senate: Installs Eric S. Edelman as Undersecretary ...
'Principal Deputy' In Libby Indictment is Eric Edelman - TalkLeft ...
Lesser Neocons of L'Affaire Plame - by Christopher Deliso

As to Edelman's current misdeeds; Juan Cole gives us more info.

And, Keith Olbermann has a thing or two to say about it.

KEITH OLBERMANN SPECIAL COMMENT JULY 19, 2007
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I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that NeoCon's are looking for a way to divert attention or change the subject. The results of the NeoCon's lame-ass surge are already coming in and it ain't pretty:

Daily attacks in Iraq hit new high
Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:41AM EDT

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Attacks in Iraq last month reached their highest daily average since May 2003, showing a surge in violence as President George W. Bush completed a buildup of U.S. troops, Pentagon statistics show.

The data, obtained by Reuters from the Defense Department, showed an upward trend in daily attacks over the past four months, when U.S. and Iraqi forces were ramping up operations against insurgents and militants, including al Qaeda, in Iraq. ...(Reuters)

Republican Hypocrisy Alert

ThinkProgess.org has the news. In a speech this morning, Bush criticized Senate Democrats for setting aside the Defense Authorization bill. He used the same lame construct that Senate Republicans McCain and Kyl used a few days ago. His argument, that Democrats were preventing the troops from getting a pay raise. But what makes his assertion doubly lame is that in May he threatened to veto the House version of the bill because it contained a pay raise for the troops.

These Republican politicians are such piles of steaming hypocrisy!

Bush Claims To Be King of America

The Bush Administration has proclaimed that they have absolute power. The claim is that a claim of executive privilege is not reviewable in the courts. Specifically, they are claiming that the U.S. Justice Department will not do its job if Congress issues a contempt citation.

What an amazingly twisted bunch! The lunatics in control at the Whitehouse have come to the conclusion that those who are appointed by the President owe him absolute loyalty and have no obligation to obey the law. These people are truly a danger to our democracy.

Broader Privilege Claimed In Firings
White House Says Hill Can't Pursue Contempt Cases

By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein

Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, July 20, 2007; Page A01

Bush administration officials unveiled a bold new assertion of executive authority yesterday in the dispute over the firing of nine U.S. attorneys, saying that the Justice Department will never be allowed to pursue contempt charges initiated by Congress against White House officials once the president has invoked executive privilege.

The position presents serious legal and political obstacles for congressional Democrats, who have begun laying the groundwork for contempt proceedings against current and former White House officials in order to pry loose information about the dismissals.

Under federal law, a statutory contempt citation by the House or Senate must be submitted to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, "whose duty it shall be to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action." ...(full article)

College Republican's, Just Plain Chicken

Max Blumenthal writes:

On July 13, 2007, I visited Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where the bodies of American soldiers killed in Iraq were freshly interred. Afterwards, I headed across the street to the Sheraton National Hotel, owned by right-wing Korean cult leader Sun Myung-Moon, to meet some of the war's most fervent supporters at the College Republican National Convention.

In conversations with at least twenty College Republicans about the war in Iraq, I listened as they lip-synched discredited cant about "fighting them over there so we don't have to fight them over here." Many of the young GOP cadres I met described the so-called "war on terror" as nothing less than the cause of their time.

Yet when I asked these College Repulicans why they were not participating in this historical cause, they immediately went into contortions. Asthma. Bad knees from playing catcher in high school. "Medical reasons." "It's not for me." These were some of the excuses College Republicans offered for why they could not fight them "over there." Like the current Republican leaders who skipped out on Vietnam, the GOP's next generation would rather cheerlead from the sidelines for the war in Iraq while other, less privileged young men and women fight and die. ...

He's filmed it all and it's a must see video:

Generation Chickenhawk: the Unauthorized College Republican Convention Tour

Senator Harkin Says "Turn Up The Heat"

Ok. I admit I'm originally from Iowa, but that's not the only reason I like Senator Tom Harkin.

Up All Night with Sen. Tom Harkin

Senator Tom Harkin takes a break from the all-night debate session to speak to online activists about the Levin-Reed amendment to bring the war in Iraq to a responsible end.

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And from Olbermann, some reality about Bush/Republican fear mongering, al-Qaeda and the occupation of Iraq

Countdown: Al-Quaida Reality Check

President Bush uses al-Quaida in Iraq to sell the occupation in Iraq but terror experts claim al-Quaida is incapable of spreading its terror operations to the US. Roger Cressey weighs in.

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Republicans Filibuster Troop Withdrawal

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are filibustering Iraq troop withdrawal legislation.
From ThinkProgress.org:

1,000 people gathered outside the Capitol tonight for a rally and candlelight vigil. Watch a highlight video of speeches from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Iraq war veteran Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Sens. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. John Lewis (D-GA), and Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Patty Murray (D-WA):

Iraq Filibuster Rally/Vigil

Whatcom Democrats Annual Picnic

sunday we had a great day at Lake Padden .....starting with the winners in the dessert contest....

here's Ken Mann a few minutes after he won 3rd place


Barry Buchanan wins 2nd!!


and 1st place to Stan(?)Snapp....



candidate speeches are here

Whatcom Democrats endorsements here

and our guest speaker Darrell Hillaire here..

Paddle to Lummi...Canoe Journey 2007

i look forward to spending some time at this amazing event......

THERE ARE ONLY 14 DAYS UNTIL THE FIRST CANOES ARRIVE ON LUMMI SHORES!

Canoe Journey ~ July 30th - August 4th, 2007

Darrell Hillaire speaks about event and issues his invitation at the annual Whatcom Democrats Annual Picnic.....
part 1


part 2

Foreign Fighters in Iraq?

Saudis' role in Iraq insurgency outlined
Sunni extremists from Saudi Arabia make up half the foreign fighters in Iraq, many suicide bombers, a U.S. official says.
By Ned Parker, Times Staff Writer
July 15, 2007

BAGHDAD — Although Bush administration officials have frequently lashed out at Syria and Iran, accusing it of helping insurgents and militias here, the largest number of foreign fighters and suicide bombers in Iraq come from a third neighbor, Saudi Arabia, according to a senior U.S. military officer and Iraqi lawmakers.

About 45% of all foreign militants targeting U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians and security forces are from Saudi Arabia; 15% are from Syria and Lebanon; and 10% are from North Africa, according to official U.S. military figures made available to The Times by the senior officer. Nearly half of the 135 foreigners in U.S. detention facilities in Iraq are Saudis, he said. ...(more)

With something like 19,000 suspected insurgents being held in Iraq, a 135 foreigners isn't very significant.

There's no mention of any Iranians. That is highly significant.

Observing that foreign fighters make up less than one percent of the insurgents, it's pretty obvious that al-Qaeda isn't going to take over Iraq... U.S. troops or no U.S. troops.

The Occupation of Iraq - Nobody Likes It

NYT video - Rethinking the War

Midwest Towns Sour on War as Their Tolls Mount

By Peter Slevin

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 14, 2007; Page A01

TIPTON, Iowa -- This farming town in Cedar County buried Army Spec. Aaron Sissel during the Iraq war's ninth month. It buried Army Spec. David W. Behrle during the 51st. Along the way, as a peaceable community's heart sank, its attitude toward President Bush and his Iraq strategy turned more personal and more negative.

Sissel and Behrle were popular young sons of Tipton, a community of 3,100 where anonymity is an impossibility. Sissel bagged groceries at the supermarket and often bowled at Cedar Lanes. Behrle served, just two years ago, as Tipton High's senior class president and commencement speaker.

The town, by all accounts, once gave Bush the benefit of the doubt for a war he said would make America safer and a mission he said was accomplished four years before Behrle died. But funeral by funeral, faith in the president and his project to remake Iraq is ebbing away. ...

Bush says give the Occupation more time; but as the most vacationing President in history, his arguments aren't very convincing. His disrespect for the Iraqi government isn't winning him any points either (of course Bush never has demonstrated an understanding of the term sovereignty).

Iraq Can Handle Security, Premier Says

But Maliki Acknowledges That His Forces Need More Troops, Training, Weapons

By Megan Greenwell

Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 15, 2007; Page A19

BAGHDAD, July 14 -- Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saturday that the Iraqi military and police are capable of maintaining security "any time" the Americans want to leave the country. ...

The only thing Bush seems to be putting any real energy into is finding someone to blame for his failures:

Bush Leans On Petraeus as War Dissent Deepens
General Set Up as Scapegoat, Some Say

By Thomas E. Ricks

Washington Post Staff Writer

... With opposition to Bush's Iraq strategy escalating on Capitol Hill, the president has sought, at least rhetorically, to transfer some of the burden of an unpopular war to his top general in Baghdad, wielding Petraeus as a shield against a growing number of congressional doubters. In speeches and meetings, the president has implored his critics to wait until September, when Petraeus is scheduled to deliver a much-anticipated assessment of the U.S. mission in Iraq. ...

... Some of Petraeus's military comrades worry that the general is being set up by the Bush administration as a scapegoat if conditions in Iraq fail to improve. "The danger is that Petraeus will now be painted as failing to live up to expectations and become the fall guy for the administration," one retired four-star officer said. ...

... When Bush and his aides shift military strategy, they seem to turn on the generals on whom they once relied publicly, said Lawrence Korb, a former Pentagon official. During the run-up to the war, when Gen. Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff, told Congress that more troops were needed to secure Iraq, he was publicly rebuked by then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz. ...

Saturday Democratic Radio Address

Veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan Wars Urges President Bush and Senate Republicans to Change Mission in Iraq

Brandon Friedman, a former infantry officer in the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, delivers the Democratic radio address this week. In March 2002, Friedman led troops into Afghanistan as part of Operation Anaconda and later commanded troops during the invasion of Iraq and combat operations in Hillah, Baghdad, and Tal Afar.

In the address, Friedman urges President Bush and Senate Republicans to vote with the Democratic majority to responsibly redeploy our troops from Iraq. Especially in light of the fact that the war has kept us from devoting resources needed to fight terrorists and the escalation of the Iraq war is failing, Friedman called on Republicans in Congress and those in their party running for President to support changing the mission in Iraq. ...

Transcript of Radio Address:

friday peace vigil Bellingham

i like to go to friday vigils whenever i can.....

Bellingham PeaceCommunity
Since 1966, local Whatcom county residents have gathered each Friday from 4-5 PM in front of the Federal Building in downtown Bellingham to express their firm commitment to creating a world full of peace. In recent years, peace groups in Skagit County started their own weekly Friday evening vigil in Mount Vernon to express their solidarity with the Whatcom Peace Vigil.

my new sign....gotta keep tryin'